CHAPTER XXV
THE “HAPPY DUST”
Veda Blair’s rescue from the strange use that was made of the venom came at a time when the city was aroused as it never had been before over the nation-wide agitation against drugs.
Already, it will be recalled, Kennedy and I had had some recent experience with dope fiends of various kinds, but this case I set down because it drew us more intimately into the crusade.
“I’ve called on you, Professor Kennedy, to see if I can’t interest you in the campaign I am planning against drugs.”
Mrs. Claydon Sutphen, social leader and suffragist, had scarcely more than introduced herself when she launched earnestly into the reason for her visit to us.
“You don’t realize it, perhaps,” she continued rapidly, “but very often a little silver bottle of tablets is as much a necessary to some women of the smart set as cosmetics.”
“I’ve heard of such cases,” nodded Craig encouragingly.
“Well, you see I became interested in the subject,” she added, “when I saw some of my own friends going down. That’s how I came to plan the campaign in the first place.”
She paused, evidently nervous. “I’ve been threatened, too,” she went on, “but I’m not going to give up the fight. People think that drugs are a curse only to the underworld, but they have no idea what inroads the habit has made in the upper world, too. Oh, it is awful!” she exclaimed.
Suddenly, she leaned over and whispered, “Why, there’s my own sister, Mrs. Garrett. She began taking drugs after an operation, and now they have a terrible hold on her. I needn’t try to conceal anything. It’s all been published in the papers—everybody knows it. Think of it—divorced, disgraced, all through these cursed drugs! Dr. Coleman, our family physician, has done everything known to break up the habit, but he hasn’t succeeded.”